National qualifications for building officials

By November 2013 all building consent authorities (BCAs) must have a system in place for ensuring that employees or contractors performing building control work by doing a technical job either:

• have an appropriate New Zealand qualification, or
• are working towards having an appropriate New Zealand qualification within a reasonable time, or
• have an appropriate foreign qualification recognised in New Zealand.

This includes staff who are processing building consents, doing inspections, or issuing code compliance certificates or notices to fix.

This requirement was introduced by regulation 18 of the Building (Accreditation of Building Consent Authorities) Regulations 2006 back in February 2007. The purpose of this regulation is to help ensure all people performing technical building control functions within BCAs have a specified and acknowledged minimum level of skill, knowledge, expertise and understanding to do this.

However, because there is not yet a standard national qualification for the core day-to-day roles of building officials available in New Zealand (such as a degree or national diploma), some BCAs have asked for further guidance on what will be needed to comply with regulation 18.

New building control qualifications

Regulation 18 was introduced in anticipation of work being progressed to develop new national qualifications. The Local Government Industry Training Organisation (LGITO) is currently leading a project to develop two national diploma-level qualifications for building officials.

• A National Diploma in Building Control Surveying (small buildings)
• A National Diploma in Building Control Surveying (medium and large buildings)

Who is involved?

LGITO is working closely with key sector stakeholders on this project. An oversight committee was established for the project and is being chaired by Craig Stevenson from South Taranaki District Council. The committee has representation from the following organisations.

• Society of Local Government Managers (SOLGM)
• Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ)
• Building Officials Institute of New Zealand (BOINZ)
• Building Control Managers Group
• Department of Building and Housing
• New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors
• Wellington Institute of Technology (WelTec)
• The Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics of New Zealand

What is the status of this work?

National Diploma package for 'small buildings'

Prior to LGITO's involvement, sector stakeholders including BOINZ, LGNZ, SOLGM, the Department and others all contributed to work to capture the critical skills and knowledge of building officials in national qualifications.

After this developmental phase, two rounds of consultation occurred in 2007, which saw considerable interest from the sector. In July 2007 the detailed components for the qualification (called 'unit standards') were submitted to the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) to be registered. After NZQA finished assessing the proposed unit standards, it approved and then registered them on the National Qualifications Framework in January 2008.

The list of units can be found on the website of the company assisting LGITO with this work, Williams Unlimited Limited: www.unltd.co.nz/index.cfm/Client_Projects/Building_Control_Qualifications

The unit standard documents can be viewed on the NZQA website: www.nzqa.govt.nz/framework/index.html

Despite the unit standards having been registered, the finalised national qualification document itself is still being evaluated and awaiting registration by NZQA.

Unfortunately, delays have meant that the registration of this qualification might not happen until early 2009.

National Diploma package for 'medium and large buildings'

The starting point for the medium and large buildings qualification was consulted on with the sector in 2007. LGITO also has received funding from the Tertiary Education Commission in late 2007 to develop this second qualification.

Over the first half of 2008, considerable progress was made to develop the detail of the qualifications package. An overview document for the qualification, along with the component units standards, was consulted on with the sector in July 2008. During this process, a series of regional workshops were held. The consultation process closed in August 2008. These qualification documents are available at: www.unltd.co.nz/index.cfm/client_projects/building_control_qualifications/medium_and_large_buildings.htmlIn late August 2008 the sector oversight committee endorsed the content of the proposed unit standards for the medium and large buildings qualification. The unit standard documents are expected to be submitted to NZQA for its assessment during November 2008. The draft qualifications document was finalised and will be submitted to NZQA for evaluation following the registration of the unit standards, which is likely to be in late 2008.

Expected timing and implementation

Although the two qualifications were developed over different timeframes, and depend on the timing of the NZQA assessment and evaluation processes, the current estimate is that they might both be registered on the National Qualifications Framework in early 2009, with possible implementation in mid-2009. Implementation planning for the two national qualifications is also well under way. Preliminary scoping to gauge the interest from education delivery providers has already occurred. Seven polytechnics from around the country are currently considering whether they will participate in the implementation of the new qualifications. To assist with implementation planning and to enable such providers to finalise their decision-making, a survey of building officials in building consent authorities across New Zealand was recently done. This survey aimed to get a better feel for numbers of building officials across the country, their general levels of experience in their jobs, and the broad split of officials working across the different types or categories of buildings. LGITO has now invited the seven polytechnics to factor in this information and decide whether they will provide a more detailed implementation proposal, either individually or collectively.

How do the new qualifications relate to regulation 18?

Regulation 18 is focused on building officials involved in technical roles - such as processing building consent applications, inspecting building work for compliance, or issuing legal documents under the Building Act (eg, building consents, notices to fix, code compliance certificates).

It is expected that the new national diploma levels qualifications will establish the minimum regulation 18 accreditation requirements for BCA staff who carry out such work for small, medium or large buildings by 2013. In most cases, this will include technical employees such as building officials, trainee building officials, technical clerks, and possibly some administrative staff who contribute to technical building control tasks (eg, vetting and receiving consent applications). It will also include contracted people doing similar technical tasks.

The BCA regulations take account of the different technical skills and expertise engaged by BCAs.

To an extent, what is 'appropriate' will also be decided, in the first instance (and then assessed by IANZ for accreditation purposes), by each BCA depending on how their building control unit is structured and the roles undertaken by BCA employees and contractors.

For instance, administrative staff who help with the initial vetting of building consent applications could be regarded by the BCA as performing a technical role (at least for that part of their job) and therefore be required to have, or be working towards, a qualification that is appropriate for that part of their role.

For people in specialist technical positions (eg, structural, geotechnical or fire engineers) one of the new qualifications might be relevant if they actually do the core building control work that building officials usually do. However, in most cases such professionals usually only provide specialist advice about their technical areas of expertise. As such, they will need an appropriate qualification in that particular discipline, which will already be part of their profession's own entry criteria (ie, degree in engineering).

The regulation was also developed to be as flexible as possible. For instance, people can be working towards a qualification within a reasonable time (yet to be defined), or could seek to use an equivalent qualification previously gained overseas (eg, diploma or degree in building surveying).

What about recognising previous training and/or qualifications?

Many building officials may already have completed, or partially completed, courses or existing qualifications such as a WelTec diploma in Building Surveying, a BRANZ Construction Industry Training Enterprises (CITE) course, or a National Diploma in Architectural Technology. In many cases, such prior learning is likely to be able to be cross-credited towards the new national qualifications. However, the relevance and level of cross-credit of previous training and courses to the new qualifications cannot be confirmed until NZQA has finally approved them and registered them on the National Qualifications Framework.

When this happens, new qualification documents will include sections on transitional arrangements to explain the relevance of these courses. Organisations such as WelTec and BRANZ have already assessed their existing courses against the proposed new qualifications and formed their views on what could be cross-credited. These organisations have communicated their positions to NZQA. If any building officials want more information on how their previous training or qualifications are likely to be relevant to the two new qualifications at this time, they should approach their training provider in the first instance.

What do the new qualifications mean for existing and experienced building officials?

A key message we are emphasising is that the new qualifications represent an excellent professional development opportunity for building officials working in the sector now. They are also considered a vital longer-term initiative aimed at strengthening the technical capability and professionalism of the workforce.

Building officials working now have the opportunity to lead the way for the profession. While all qualifications have to be earned, skilled and experienced building officials should be well positioned to take advantage of the opportunity presented by the new qualifications. As mentioned above, many are already likely to be part of the way there with their current competencies and work history.

It is critical that the building controls sector retain its current workforce. The new qualifications have been designed so that this is realistic. People should not be wary of the new qualifications - they are a relevant and accessible opportunity for all. To help prepare for the new qualifications, building officials are encouraged to keep good records of their work experience, current competencies, existing qualifications, and ongoing continued professional development training, as this information will all be relevant.

Where should BCAs invest their training budgets prior to the new qualifications?

The answer is to keep investing in training initiatives that are relevant to the core business of building control. Each BCA should have a system for assessing the skills and core building control competencies of its individual staff and the BCA as a whole. This should help identify the BCA's technical strengths and limitations so they can develop sound training plans. Existing training programmes and courses that are relevant to day- to-day building control activities and are helping to upskill building officials will all help smooth the transition to the new qualifications. None of this should be considered 'wasted training', just because new qualifications are being developed and introduced.

Further information

Updates on the development and implementation of national qualifications for building officials will be published in future issues of Codewords. You can also get more information from Williams Unlimited's website: www.unltd.co.nz/index.cfm/Client_Projects/Building_Control_Qualifications